FW: Balance

I've noticed that I'm not putting my check-ins up on my blog... and I wondered why and then I realised that its because I don't want to grumble too much about it all. And about the book in particular - my feelings that Julia Cameron had one really good idea - the Artist's Way - and has since squeezed loads more books out of it, none of which has spoken to me with the same vibrancy as the first.

In the AW she gives both exercises in the chapter and then ten afterwards, and her writing is full of encouragement.

In FW I'm feeling tainted by her negativity - she says we all need to be careful whom we let into our lives and that she, aware of her own negativity, tries to avoid others with the same trait - well I want to avoid her!

And yet....

I feel part of this group. I have no intention of stopping being part of this group.

And to be part of this group does require that I at least read the book and have a go at the exercises, whilst keeping up with MPs, ADs and walks as much as possible.

One thing which I've found very useful in the past is called

Acknowledge and Let Go

Strangely, I blogged about this almost exactly a year ago in Unpeeling Emotions.

The basic directions are simple:

Out loud you say:

“I acknowledge feeling . . . . . . about ....... (doing) ....... and I choose to let go of this feeling RIGHT NOW!”

Filling in the gaps as appropriate.

And out loud means loud, shouting if necessary - you really need to be convincing about the letting go!

Say it over and over, with feeling and convincingly, until you have convinced yourself that this particular feeling has gone.

For instance:

I acknowledge feeling upset about Julia Cameron expressing her own negativity and I choose to LET GO of this FEELING RIGHT NOW!

then you wait and feel what comes next...

I acknowledge feeling annoyed with Julia Cameron for selling the artist way thinned down and repackaged over and over and I choose to LET GO of this FEELING - RIGHT NOW!


I acknowledge feeling annoyed with myself for being annoyed with Julia Cameron and I choose to LET GO of this FEELING - RIGHT NOW!


I acknowledge feeling upset with myself for not being perfect and and I choose to LET GO of this FEELING RIGHT NOW!

Going this far down has cleared me considerably... but what do you do when

You can't tell how you feel!

Sometimes it is really hard to come up with a word that encapsulates your feelings - it may be that one reason is because you don't actually let yourself feel the feeling - and feelings can be rather slower to form fully than words.

Sit and put your attention into your belly - this is often the seat of emotions - even those that have risen to block your throat can be found here.

If your attention is pulled to some other part of your body let that speak first.

My throat:

I am blocked - I'm really not going to put this stuff into words - its too dangerous and I don't want to say it or see it or hear it!

Okay... well how about finding a picture that expresses that.... lets search on flickr, under the creative commons license, for a something about not seeing or hearing...



An image uploaded to flickr by Miss Linds

I acknowledge feeling wary of expressing evil in any form and I choose to let go this feeling RIGHT NOW.

Ah, but I still feel wary - less tense about it but not happy.

Maybe there is a good reason for this.

Looking back at last year in my blog I find this:

The Curser



I blogged it in February 2006. At that time I wrote:

This card represents inappropriate stillness. Stillness used to send out (and therefore attract back) bad thoughts: moans, groans and whines. The hypochondriac, the bad mouther, the cynic - all these attract in just the things they think about so proving themselves right. Bad luck dogs their days. The little helping spirits are all ears so they attend well to their instructions!

But look a key word here was STILLNESS - I didn't see that at the time but emotions that are blocked and stuck become stagnant and still - this is not the stillness of a beautiful lake, nor the life-giving water of a deep, clear well - its more like that of a sludgy, dark, dank and polluted ditch clogged up with stifled emotions.

And the best way to clear blocked emotions is to LET THEM GO!

I acknowledge feeling blocked emotions about all sorts of things and I choose to let this feeling go - RIGHT NOW!

Stand by for the deluge!

What kind of water have you been finding?